Monzavi was seized at the start of March. Her work, including High Fashion in Tehran and Women in Grap Garden Alley, often deals with homeless women who are cast off from society.

1506 GMT: Economy Watch. Yahya Al-Ishagh, head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce has declared "We are in an economic war." He said the Government's declared 8% growth rate had not been realised and authorities should support domestic production through use of oil income.

1445 GMT: Back from maintenance and a weekend break to find former Minister of Culture Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi assuring, "The US knows that, if it attacks us, we will retaliate and its own damages would be much higher.

And here are more episodes to consider about rhetoric and reality. The Tehran Timesoffers another extract from Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami's Tehran Friday Prayer:

“The U.S., the Zionist regime and the reactionary Arabs support blasts and killings of innocent people in Syria,” Khatami...told worshippers....

He went on to say that Syria has come under intensive pressure by the U.S. and certain Arab countries for its support for Hezbollah as the strongest resistance movement against Israel.“Such moves are intended to weaken Hezbollah … which until today have been unsuccessful and will be unsuccessful” in the future, he asserted.

He also said that Iran is pushing for real reforms in Syria and considers the recent parliamentary election in the country as an effective step toward the fulfillment of the rights of the Syrian people.“The Islamic Republic of Iran has been and will be a supporter of serious reforms in Syria,” he said.

"Over the past year, Iran has provided security assistance to Damascus to help shore up Assad. Tehran during the last couple of months has been aiding the Syrian regime with lethal assistance - including rifles, ammunition, and other military equipment - to help it put down the opposition," a U.S. official said.

"Iran has provided Damascus (with) monitoring tools to help the regime suppress the opposition. It has also shared techniques on Internet surveillance and disruption," the official continued.

He added that Iran had also provided Assad's government with "unarmed drones that Damascus is using along with its own technology to monitor opposition forces."

Iranian security officials have also traveled to Damascus to advise Assad's entourage how to counter dissent, the official said. Some Iranian officials have stayed on in Syria to advise Assad's forces, he added.